Natalie McIntyre was born in Canton, Ohio,[3] the daughter of Laura McIntyre, a math schoolteacher,[4] and Otis Jones who left when she was a baby.[5] Her stepfather was a steelworker, and she has a sister who would become a biology teacher.[5] She began piano lessons at age seven.[6] A childhood bicycle mishap resulted in her noticing a mailbox of a man named Macy Gray; she used the name in stories she wrote and later decided to use it as her stage name.[5]

Gray attended school with Brian Warner (later known as musician Marilyn Manson) although they did not know each other.[6] She attended more than one high school, including a boarding school which asked her to leave due to her behavior.[6] She graduated from Canton South High School in 1985.

While attending the University of Southern California, she agreed to write songs for a friend. A demo session was scheduled for the songs to be recorded by another singer, but the vocalist failed to appear, so Gray recorded them herself.

I started forming bands and writing songs just for fun and then I really got into it and got attached to it. Then a friend of mine asked me to be a singer in his jazz band. He gave me all these jazz CDs and I studied all these different singers and I kind of taught myself how to sing for a gig, but I didn't take it seriously until later.[6]

She then met writer-producer Joe Solo while working as a cashier in Beverly Hills.[7] Together, they wrote a collection of songs and recorded them in Solo's studio. The demo tape gave Gray the opportunity to sing at jazz cafés in Los Angeles.[8] Although Gray did not consider her unusual voice desirable for singing,[6]Atlantic Records signed her. She began recording her debut record but was dropped from the label upon the departure of A&R man Tom Carolan, who had signed her to the label.[9] Macy returned to Ohio but in 1997 Los Angeles based Zomba Publishing Senior VP A&R man Jeff Blue, convinced her to return to music and signed her to a development deal, recording new songs based on her life experiences, with a new sound, and began shopping her to record labels.[10][11] In 1998, she landed a record deal with Epic Records.[12] She performed on "Love Won't Wait", a song on the Black Eyed Peas' debut album Behind the Front.[13]

In 2002, she appeared in Spider-Man and contributed a remix of her song "My Nutmeg Phantasy" to its accompanying soundtrack. Gray also worked with Santana on the track "Amoré (Sexo)", for his album Shaman.[29][30]

She recorded a duet with Zucchero called "Like the Sun (From Out of Nowhere)", which featured Jeff Beck on guitar released in 2004 on Zu & Co., a duets collection.[31][32] Her song "Time of My Life" was included in the soundtrack to 8 Mile.[33] A cartoon based on Gray's childhood was being developed, but it never came to fruition.[14][30]

Gray began 2007 by being kicked off-stage at a concert in Barbados for profanity (which was part of the show), but she was not aware that it was against the law in that country.[38] She gave a public apology that night to avoid arrest.[39]

In March, Gray released her fourth studio album (sixth overall), Big.[40] Two singles, "Finally Made Me Happy" and "Shoo Be Doo", were released from the album.[39] "What I Gotta Do", another track from the album, is featured on the Shrek the Third soundtrack. It has been considered Gray's comeback album, after a four-year hiatus since her last studio album.[41] The album was critically acclaimed and seen by some as her best work to date.[42] It features collaborations with Natalie Cole, Fergie, Justin Timberlake, and will.i.am, who co-executive produced the album with Gray. It was moderately successful in the US, where it debuted and peaked at number 39 on the Billboard 200, becoming Gray's highest-charting album since The Id.[43]Big reached number 62 on the albums chart in the UK,[44] her lowest-charting UK album, but it achieved some success in several other countries, including Switzerland, the Czech Republic, and Finland, reaching the Top 40 on their album charts.[45]

Upon its release, The Sellout received generally mixed reviews from most music critics. Metacritic gave it an average score of 57, based on 15 reviews;[50] Andy Gill of The Independent gave it three out of five stars; while AllMusic writer John Bush shared a similar sentiment and panned Gray's songwriting.[51]

For the 40th anniversary of the 1972 Stevie Wonder album Talking Book, Gray covered the entire record and released her Talking Book as a tribute.[56]

In an interview with Oprah Winfrey's Where Are They Now, Gray opened up about her problems with drug abuse, stating that she was ill-prepared for the level of fame she received. The interview coincided with the release of her album The Way, released in October 2014 on Kobalt Records. A world tour was announced shortly after its release.[57]

On September 28, 2008, Gray sang the American national anthem as part of the Israeli flag-raising ceremony at the Israeli consulate of Los Angeles.[64][65]

In 2008, Gray collaborated with Australian DJ and singer Kaz James on the song "Can't Hold Back". The single was released in early 2009 in Australia and is credited to Kaz James featuring Macy Gray.[66]